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Day 20: Sightseeing-light in Sesimbra

Much like our time in The Fig, we did a lot of relaxing and general nothingness during our two full days in Sesimbra. It was Sightseeing Light, a concept with which we aren’t super familiar, but embraced nonetheless.

Whoa, how’d that get here?

On this day we awoke super early (still not sleeping well), lounged, ate, napped, and lounged some more before heading out to walk the streets of Sesimbra and then drive to nearby Cabo (cape) Espichel. This cape was said to have dramatic cliffs and views (it definitely did), but there was also one more surprise attraction: a very large sanctuary (Our Lady of Cape Espichel) from the 15th century. Here we were, seemingly at the end of the world, and there it was, larger than life. Sometimes I wondered if these religious building contractors couldn’t help themselves from constructing just one more…

Dramatic cliffs and beautiful views, check and check

We admired the views from the cape from many angles before hopping in the car and heading back toward town. Now, on our drive out to the cape I had noticed a brown sign (indicating a tourist stop) that had some Portuguese words and what I thought were pictures of otters on it. Not wanting to miss an otter opportunity, on our way back we followed the signs. They took us to the Monumento Natural Pedreira do Avelino, and somewhere in there it turns out the words do not mean otters, they mean dinosaurs.

Dinosaur paw prints

We were led to a small parking lot adjacent to a rock quarry, where apparently, during the course of rock quarrying in the late 20th century, they were uncovered. It was a fun stop, as we’ve never seen dinosaur prints before. Well, sauropods prints, specifically, but now I’m just getting technical and know-it-all-y after having seen them. The whole thing seemed randomly placed, with a working quarry on one side, an industrial-parkish area on the other, and people going about their daily business in between, but I suppose when the dinosaurs were leaving the footprints the neighborhood looked a little different and they weren’t concerned with stepping on cars. At any rate, and in spite of there being no otters, we were super glad we stopped to see such a cool, unique sight.

Miss Cleo storming the castle alone

Our travels took us next to the big Sesimbra Fortress, where we drove to the top and once again were the only ones there, before setting the route back to the apartment. However, we couldn’t help ourselves and ended up going into the Pingo Doce grocery store, followed by the Aldi grocery store because we couldn’t leave one on the table. Besides, we needed to see all four in order to do a proper analysis. Analysis of what, I’m not sure, but rest assured it will be a proper one.

Back to the apartment we went, where we took right back up with relaxing, eating, and drinking wine on the balcony overlooking the sea.